# How often do you check your mail? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329 "2006-12-08T13:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/21 "2006-12-08T16:46:02Z")
Maybe once a week, if that often. Unless I’m expecting something specific, then I’ll check more often. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/22 "2006-12-08T16:54:10Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Maybe once a week, if that often. Unless I’m expecting something specific, then I’ll check more often. [/QUOTE] Physical mail: once every 3 weeks Email: Once a month Voicemail: Once every 4 months Then again I am a mail-phobe. ---
**Author:** ![StinkyBurrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@StinkyBurrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkyBurrito)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/23 "2006-12-08T17:00:25Z")
I have a small mailbox on the side of my house, so it is easy for me to get everyday and I feel bad for the mail carrier when she has to cram mail in an already full mailbox. So, about once every two or three days. At that point, the mail gets thrown into a pile to be sorted out a few months down the line. This method, however, is not recommended because people can apparently send you official and important documents without notifying you they are coming. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/24 "2006-12-08T17:03:08Z")
[QUOTE=StinkyBurrito] I have a small mailbox on the side of my house, so it is easy for me to get everyday and I feel bad for the mail carrier when she has to cram mail in an already full mailbox. So, about once every two or three days. At that point, the mail gets thrown into a pile to be sorted out a few months down the line. This method, however, is not recommended because people can apparently send you official and important documents without notifying you they are coming. [/QUOTE] Indeed. I get so much junk mail that I could not go as long as many of the people on this board. 3 days maybe tops. Even then it would be pretty well stuffed. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/25 "2006-12-08T17:05:37Z")
My physical mail comes to a PO Box (no home delivery in our area) and I make it over there probably once or twice a week. The boxes are available starting at 7:30 but the window opens at 8:00 so I go to mail stuff when I can wait till then, and check the box at that time. If I’m waiting for something it’s probably a package and the window has to be open to pick that up. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/26 "2006-12-08T17:12:27Z")
The responses in this thread surprise me. I thought everybody checked their mail every day, especially when it’s delivered. We don’t have mail delivery, so hubby or I go to the post office every weekday. It’s actually something we look forward to, which is another side effect of aging in the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/27 "2006-12-08T17:14:53Z")
We have a mail slot in the front door. I either pick it up every day, or I walk on it. Either or. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/28 "2006-12-08T17:27:53Z")
[QUOTE=Shoeless] Our neighborhood has those group mailboxes on a pedestal. There’s a pedestal right across the street from our house, however for some reason our mailbox is in the pedestal down at the end of the block. Since I’m the only one that ever checks the mail anyway, it basically depends on the weather and / or how lazy I’m feeling. Some weeks it can be three or four times a week, some weeks it’s one or two times. [/QUOTE] Ditto. And either my son or I checks the mail every day. My husband, however, has an idea which pedestal of boxes are ours, however, he has no idea WHICH box is ours. We’ve lived there four years +. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/29 "2006-12-08T17:44:30Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] Indeed. I get so much junk mail that I could not go as long as many of the people on this board. 3 days maybe tops. Even then it would be pretty well stuffed. [/QUOTE] Well my mail box as mentioned is in one of those pedestal thingies, mine is about the size of a Fedex overnite box so it can hold a lot of mail. Besides it’s mostly junk, and school notices. As far as the school notices go, between the PTA, Automated Calling Notices, the hand outs the kids bring home and that kid that yells it from the end of each block (ok I made that last one up) the mail stuff is superfluous. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/30 "2006-12-08T17:47:30Z")
Our home mail comes to a box in our garage, and my wife, who works at home, gets it every day. She gets checks for her work there. At work our mail comes during lunch, and I check every day, since I subscribe to lots of tech rags. I got addicted to checking for mail 30 years ago after we got engaged, and were living far apart. We sent each other real physical letters all the time, and they were nice to get. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/31 "2006-12-08T20:26:08Z")
I have Netflix, so I check the mail every day. Also, I have a very small mailbox at my apt complex so I can’t really go more than one day without it being cramed full of junk mail. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/32 "2006-12-08T20:34:46Z")
I like checking the mail, so I do it every day we have delivery. We often get nothing but crap and that’s disappointing, but I always look forward to checking the mail anyway. I think it’s the promise of money or a good catalog that gets me excited. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/33 "2006-12-08T20:49:48Z")
For weekday deliveries, I check my mailbox every day after work. I get enough “good” stuff that I don’t mind, but mostly it’s pure habit. Saturday deliveries are another story: I don’t always leave the house on Saturdays (and sometimes I don’t leave the house all weekend), so I pick up that mail whenever – no later than Monday after work, though. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/34 "2006-12-08T22:17:24Z")
Mailbox is six inches to the right of the front door, so every day as I get back from class. Most of the time, it’s just junk mail. And most of the junk mail is for previous occupants. If we didn’t check it everyday and throw it all out, the mailbox would be full in two days. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/35 "2006-12-08T23:13:27Z")
Most days (I skip an occasional one, if my hands are full) as I get home from work. The mailbox is at the end of the driveway. 80% of the mail hits the recycle bin before I leave the garage. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/36 "2006-12-08T23:26:07Z")
Every day, unless it’s been raining all day and I’m not expecting a Netflix or anything important. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Blue-Sighted\_Shadow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@The\_Blue-Sighted\_Shadow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Blue-Sighted_Shadow)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/37 "2006-12-08T23:29:26Z")
My mail box is a slot that drops the mail into a box inside my house. I have to collect it daily, or the next day’s mail won’t fit through the slot. I also have a basket outside my front door for oversized mail, magazines, etc. I pick those up when I come home from work, but I may not pick Saturday’s up until I get the Sunday paper. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/38 "2006-12-08T23:33:09Z")
Every night when I come home. I don’t understand these “leave it unopened for the weekend to deal with it” folks. Having received nasty surprises in the mail in the past, I rip everything open the moment I walk in the door, before I’ve even taken my shoes off or sat down. 99.99% of the time it’s nothing serious, but I like to know. Being a postal worker, I get some funny looks when I check my mail. Passers-by see me wearing full Australia Post uniform (I’m not a postman, but they don’t know that) and I have a strangely official-looking bag slung over my shoulder (I bought it at a street market in Hong Kong years ago and it only contains the remains of my dinner, but they don’t know that either), and I get all sorts of “why is that house getting mail deliveries at 11pm?” looks. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/39 "2006-12-09T00:03:07Z")
Where I live now our mail boxes are old and very small. We have two or three back-to-back junk mail days a week, any one of which could pack a box full. So, out of courtesy to our very nice mail lady I check my mail every day. Plus, they’re on the outside of the building and are very flimsy. The laziest of thieves wouldn’t have any problem doing a pry-and-grab in the middle of the night. Where I lived before, our mailboxes were more modern and secure and I would go three or four days before checking mine. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329/40 "2006-12-09T00:11:23Z")
Since my mailbox is approx 2 feet from my apartment door, I check it every night on my way in from work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-check-your-mail/383329.md?page=3)